This page is still UNDER CONSTRUCTION;
(It takes a long time to check links!
We'd advise
checking sites which only provide recent links)
Hopefully, some of this may help you...
Unless stated otherwise, all software listed here is both free and recommended by The Starman. Links to information web sites are those which I've used myself and found helpful. (The list is by subjects in alphabetical order.)
If you don't see a topic here, then try this rather famous site:
http://lists.thedatalist.com/ — A List of Lists with many pages! You could go blind trying to read everything here. Warning: I'm definitely not recommending everything at this site. Some files I don't like at all, but mainly I don't have the time to examine all of them! On their data recovery page, I found many good commercial products (and even a couple commercial quality programs for free), but some appear to be lots of trouble if not downright dangerous for the average consumer! So, like anywhere else on the Net, be cautious about what you find here!
Well, I'd hope
that you'd visit my own page first:
asm/mbr/DataRecovery.htm;
there aren't very many helpful sites out there (most are commercial;
and want their money up front). If
I had a real commercial business, these are some of the
people I'd be in competition with (and don't mind showing you why). This is only one of many examples we could share:
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Too Expensive(?): QueTek Consulting Corp. used
to have a web page in which they asked for a $95 non-refundable fee up front
just to evaluate your problem via e-mail. You then followed what they said
to do; running programs via e-mail. But further down it stated that the usual
final quote for the job would be between "$500 and $2,000" before
subtracting the initial fee. This must have been way too much for most people
(at prices you'd normally expect from a hardware repair),
because I can no longer find that page anywhere on the Net! But
QueTek also makes:
A good program: QueTek's File Scavenger — A PROGRAM for file recovery on NTFS volumes that can't be fixed (due to reformatting, etc.). This one may also help recover some data when there's been a lot of "bad sector" damage too; you may have only one-shot at getting your data back, so prepare for it first! Their honest and forthright statements, such as: "Disclaimer:" and "Important Notice:" are very helpful (Make sure you read them!). The price seemed fair (you can try a demo disk first) in 2007.
This same company now
runs a "RAID recovery service" via e-mails, and will refund the
fee ($300-$1000) if unsuccessful (perhaps their software predicts and proves it will be successful ahead of
time).
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More later ...
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ZoneAlarm from: http://www.zonelabs.com/ (has been commercial for some time; but the firewall in SP2 and later of Windows XP, Vista or Windows™ 7 are usually good enough now).
If you don't have any firewall and are running a Windows™ 2000, XP (SP1) , 2003 OS, you should IMMEDIATELY install ZoneAlarm, then check your system for any trojans, worms, or viruses! I also suggest that you educate yourself on the dangers of connecting to the Net without a firewall by visiting Steve Gibson's famous "ShieldsUp" site at: http://www.grc.com/ and test your ports! Then read what he has to say about the security failures of many Windows™ systems. (You may need to hunt a bit for his new ShieldsUp page. Try out his "DCOMbobulator", "Shoot the Messenger" and "Plug 'n Pray" security solution programs too!)
See Anti-Virus Software too!
http://www.tldp.org/ — The Linux Documentation Project. All sorts of "HOWTO"s on many different Linux subjects (quality varies).
news://news.grc.com/grc.techtalk.linux — Great little group to ask for help with your Linux needs. You'll also find a few posts by The Starman there; such as my "Knoppix," "Panic: Moved Linux..." series of posts, and lastly "Historical Perspective: MS, SCO, *nix" which includes a link for a chapter on the early history of UNIX.
For those Dual-booting into both Linux and NTFS OSs:
John Newbigin's utilities for Windows and Linux (such as Explore2fs): http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/
Apart from the information built into AVG and their own web site, I've found Sophos to be one of the best (along with Symantec's Antivirus Research Center). You'll find them here:
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/
and here:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/
.
If the infection is related to the security of any Windows™ OS and is one that Microsoft® considers important, you'll most likely find information about it on their site too. When last checked (FEB 2004), this page contained links to info about 28 well-known worms/trojans that affected Microsoft® products; including Klez, Bugbear, Slammer, Blaster, Sobig, Swen and MyDoom:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/alerts/
Of special interest to everyone who uses MS-Outlook or Outlook Express is their page on the BadTrans Worm (26 NOV 2001) which states:
" The virus makes use of the MS01-020 exploit, which means that the virus can execute on reading or previewing the email from within Outlook - it is not necessary to double click on any attachment. A patch to fix this exploit has been available since March [2001] from Microsoft. " [ Emphasis/color are mine. From: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/alerts/badtrans.asp ]
The page seems to indicate that this is no longer possible (if you've applied the patch), but I'd still advise you to never set your e-mail program to preview messages in a separate pane; you should always check for suspicious e-mails from a list in your Inbox after setting it to show whether there are any attachments and how large the e-mail itself is (an e-mail without an attachment that has a rather large size, may still be carrying a virus in some kind of HTML/RichEdit form!).
Last Update: 2009.